Burial-shirt.



G. 0., HOLGOMB. BURIAL SHIRT.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 18, 1906.

928,655. Patented July 20, 1909.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

nnrrnn STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES C. HOLOOMB, OF RICHMOND, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO RICHMOND CASKET COMPANY,

OF RICHMOND, INDIANA, A CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

BURIAL-SI-IIRT.

To all'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES C. HoLooMB, a citizen of the United States, residing at Richmond, in the county of Wayne and State of Indiana, have invented a certain new and useful Burial-Shirt, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to what are termed, in general, as burial garments and the object thereof is to provide a shirt so made as to be readily and conveniently applied by the undertaker, such shirt not being in the form of a dicky nor a part of or attached to the coat and vest as in ordinary burial garments. As a result of the provision of my form of burial shirt, the garments can be adjusted and applied to corpses of different sizes and heights and at the same time the appearance of the ordinary or natural clothes is more nearly attained.

As is well known, in a case of the ordinary burial garments, the coat and vest are provided with a so called dicky which is sewed or secured permanently to the inside of the burial suit, with the result that there is no relative adjustment possible between the suit and the shirt, thereby preventing the proper fitting of the garments. With the use of my form ofburial shirt, I overcome this objection, inasmuch as such shirt Which resembles an ordinary shirt in a general way, is not designed to be fastened to the suit, but is applied and used as a separate garment, adjustable with respect to the suit and provided with means for adjusting the size of the neck-band. Moreover, my burial shirt is so made that it may be readily applied by the undertaker and is furthermore provided with sleeves terminating in cuffs or in wrist-bands with detachable cuffs, whereas in the usual practice no shirt at all is provided, but simply the so called dicky and separate cuffs which are pinned or secured in the coat sleeves.

My form of burial shirtpossesses many other advantages chief among which may be mentioned the point that a variety of styles of shirt and shirt bosom may be provided to suit the tastes of different purchasers, from which follows the additional advantage that a great variety of combinations of suit and shirt may be provided, inasmuch as the shirt is separate from the suit. Another advantage of my form of burial shirt is due to the presence of regular sleeves which give the Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed May 18, 1906.

Patented July 20, 1909.

Serial N0. 317,454.

natural form and appearance to the coat sleeves, it being understood that in the usual burial garment no shirt sleeves at all are provided and that consequently the coat sleeves lack the proper form or set. Besides these features of advantage may be mentioned that which arises in selling the burial garments and the other accessories and which is based upon the fact that the burial shirt is not a sham but a complete article which may be freely exhibited to the purchaser (whether he be acquainted with the usual sham character of burial garments or not) without any liability of losing that confidence of the purchaser which would prevent his sale of the garment, as well as of the other accessories of a burial.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of the burial shirt with the collar and neck-tie in place; Fig. 2- a rear elevation thereof; Fig. 3 an elevation of a portion of the shirt with the collar and neck-tie removed and illustrating the-neck band and fastening tapes; Fig. 4 a rear elevation of the middle upper portion of the shirt illustrating the neck band and the fastening tapes; Fig. 5 a section taken on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1, such section being taken through the necktie, collar and collarbandfl ig. 6 a plan view of the collar detached, and Fig. 7 a detail section of the collar and collar band.

In the present embodiment of my invention as illustrated in the drawings, the burial shirt comprises a front portion 1, a bosom 2 and aback formed in two portions 3 3, to gether with the sleeves 4 4 which here terminate in cuffs 5 5. As shown and by preference, the front of the shirt terminates practically at the lower end of the bosom while the back portions 3 3 terminate some distance above the lower end or edge of the front portion. However, to satisfy some of the trade, the front and back of the shirt may be made of the usual instead of the abbreviated length. The back of the shirt is thus divided or split all the way down, thus forming the two portions 3 3 already referred to, with the result that the undertaker is enabled to readily and conveniently apply the shirt to the corpse.

The shirt is so made that the neck band may be adjusted to fit different sizes of neck, and likewise the collar marked 6, which is preferably formed in a single piece open at the back, is arranged to be fitted to different sizes of neck. To this end, the collar which is here shown in the form of a turn-down collar, is secured in suitable manner to the front of the shirt, that is to the top of the bosom Where the ordinary front shirt button comes and also by preference secured on opposite sides part way around the neck band as shown at 7 in Fig. 4. In the present instance the neck-tie which is shown as a bow tie 8 is secured to the neck band 9 of the shirt by means of a staple 10 and the same may be furthersecured as shown in Fig. 7 to the edges of the collar by sewing the same at 11. The collar and neck-tie are attached to and form a more or less permanent part of the shirt itself so that it is only necessary to fit the rear ends of the collar band and collar in the manner now to be described.

My object in providing the novel form of burial shirt forming the subject matter of this application is not only to provide a burial shirt resembling an ordinary shirt and adapted for this particular purpose but also to provide a style and size of burial shirt capable of use on different sizes of corpses. To this end, I make provision for increasing or diminishing the size of the neck band and size of the collar as the case may require. In the present instance, I provide the neck band of the shirt with two strings or tapes 12 whose inner ends are secured in suitable manner, as by sewing, to such shirt band at points beyond the open end thereof, that is at the back portion of the shirt, as clearly indicated in Figs. 3 and 4, where the shirt is illustrated without the collar in place. Each of these tapes is passed through a pair of openings 13 in the flap 6 of the collar and thence through another opening 14 in the collar proper. These openings or holes 13 and 14 are formed in the collar some distance from the ends thereof to permit of the desired adjustment in the size of the collar and neck band, and the tapes or strings are laced therethrough in such manner, as indicated in the drawings, that the drawing together of the tapes will draw together the endsof the collar, as Well as. the neck band and thereby constrict the size of the shirt band and collar to accommodate the particular corpse. and neck band have been drawntogether suffi- When the collar ciently, in the manner described, the tapes are tied together.

It will thus be seen that the burial shirt is not only so made as to resemble an ordinary shirt by being provided with the main portions thereof, including the sleeves and cuffs and the separate bosom, but also made in such manner that it may be readily applied by the undertaker and be properly fitted so as to give the natural appearance of this particular garment. The form of burial shirt thus also obtains the Various other advantages hereinbefore noted.

I claim:

1. A burial shirt comprising a front portion with a bosom, sleeves, and a back portion split from top to bottom, a collar open at the back and attached to the front of the shirt, and tapes secured to the back portion of the shirt and laced through openings near the ends of the collar, whereby when such tapes are drawn together and tied the collar and back of the shirt will be simultaneously drawn together to form different sizes of collar and neck band.

2. A burial shirt comprising a front portion with a bosom, sleeves, and a back portion split from top to bottom, a collar substantially permanently secured to the neck band of the shirt at the front thereof and at the sides and open at the back, and tapes secured to the back of the shirt on either side of the line of split and laced through openings near the ends of the collar.

3. A burial shirt comprising a front portion with a bosom 2, sleeves 4, and a back portion 3 split from top to bottom, a collar 6 open at the back and attached to the front of the shirt, said collar having-near its ends pairs of openings 13, and tapes secured to the back portion of the shirt at some distance- 011 either side of the slit therein, and laced through said openings 13, whereby when such tapes are drawn together, the collar and back of the shirt will be simultaneously drawn together to form different sizes of col lar and neck band.

CHARLES C. HOLCOMB'.

Witnesses:

EVERETT R. LEMON, ROBERT DE VINNEY. 

